Battlestar Poseidon
by Nck Y
Summary: A year before the Fall, a group of battlestars were sent out to do reconnaissance against the Cylons. Little do they know that...well, I won't spoil it for you. This is their story. Reviews are appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**By Nick Yarka**

**Episode One:**

**The Mission**

Based on _Battlestar Galactica_ by Glen Larson, and the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_ by Ronald Moore and David Eick. © 1978 and © 2003 all rights reserved. All rights not reserved by the original intellectual property owners are retained by the author.

**The Story**

The _Battlestar Poseidon _saga takes place in the same universe as the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_. This being said, everything in the _Battlestar Galactica_ series is accepted as canon. I also accept all of _Battlestar Prometheus_, _Caprica_, and _Blood and Chrome_ series as being canon.

_Blood and Chrome _has just come out as of this writing, so I may have to revise the story for it to still be canon.

The first season of _Battlestar Poseidon _takes place one year before the fall.

While writing this book, I have found that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to the classes of ships. The _Galactica/Columbia _class is the _Jupiter _class Battlestar. The class the _Valkyrie _belongs to is the _Odin class._ The other Jupiter class (the one that looks like a _Mercury_ with _Galactica's_ flight pods) is a Jupiter block II.

Many thanks to Ryan Keeton, author of _Battlestar Prometheus._ I also want to thank mserra109, Adama's shadow, and Bolian Admiral for their _The Forgotten, Battlestar Polaris, and Battlestar Uranita,_ respectively.

**Prologue **

_There are those who believe that life here began out there. _  
_Far across the universe. With tribes of humans_  
_who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians_  
_or the Toltecs or the Mayans_  
_that they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids_  
_or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis_  
_Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man_  
_who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens._

Opening lines of the Original _Battlestar Galactica_

_The Cylons were created by man. They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies. And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters. After a long and bloody struggle, an Armistice was declared. The Cylons left for another world to call their own. A remote space station was built where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations. Every year, the Colonials send an officer. The Cylons send no one. No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years._

Opening lines of the Miniseries

_The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan._

Opening lines of the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 1**

**Caprica City**

**Caprica**

**Office of the President**

Fleet Admiral David Anthony, Commander of the Colonial Military, stepped into Richard Adar, the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol's office.

"Mr. President." Admiral Anthony said.

"Hello, Dave. Come in, have a seat."

"Mr. President, I have come to discuss the recent findings about the tests being done by the Cylons."

"I assume you mean the recent nuclear weapons tests being done across the Red Line."

"Since the only thing beyond the Red Line is Cylons-"

"There is no indication that it was the Cylons." Adar responded.

"Well, since we can't go beyond the Red Line through the Armistice Treaty, I guess we won't find out. At least, not unless we use the plan I came up with."

"And what might that be?" the president asked.

"I propose that we send a number of our stealth ships plus a few heavy battlestars and gunstars to determine the size of Cylon controlled space and the strength of their military," the admiral explained.

"Why?" President Adar inquired.

"The Cylons are unknown to us. We have no idea what their military capabilities are or where their home world is or pretty much anything. All we have are some forty-year old files." Admiral Anthony explained.

"Request denied. I simply cannot afford to allot money to build a new battlestar. Now if you will excuse me I have a press conference in a half hour and I need to prepare." replied Adar.

**Two Days Later**

**Fleet Admiral David Anthony's Residence**

**Picon**

"So he didn't listen to reason. I knew it," Admiral Peter J. Corman said.

"Adar is a fool. What did you really expect, Dave, him to listen to you? He has been downsizing the fleet ever since he took office," questioned Admiral Richard Torres, Admiral Anthony's chief-of-staff.

President Adar has been downsizing the Colonial Fleet since he took office. Before he took office, there were 203 active battlestars, three dozen warstars, 351 active gunstars, 112 assaultstars, 68 strikestars, over five hundred scoutstars, several hundred cruisers, and 350 non-combatant military ships, like constructstars and medstars. By the time of the fall, nearly forty percent of the fleet will be gone. Adar was using the money that was not used to keep the retired ships in service for several social projects. Like most politicians, he did not think the Cylons would come back.

"I know, I know. But I did plan for that eventuality. Remember _Babylon_ station?" asked Admiral Anthony.

"The top-secret military station that no one in the government knows about? How could I forget?" Admiral Corman laughed.

"I have built another _Exeter_ class battlestar at their shipyards, the _Poseidon_. I'm giving command of her to Vice-Admiral Marks." Admiral Anthony told the other Admirals.

"Jason Marks? He knows about this?" Admiral Torres exclaimed.

"You built a third _Exeter_ class battlestar?" asked Admiral Corman at the same time as Admiral Torres.

"Yes. He was the one who suggested that we build _Babylon_ station. Aren't you happy, Rob? You won't have to see him for at least two years." Admiral Anthony added upon seeing the look on Admiral Torres' face.

"I have yet to be convinced that he is competent enough to hold command of a battlestar," responded Admiral Torres.

"During the last war games, he was given command of an _Odin_ class light battlestar and two _Bezerek_ class heavy gunstars, and he beat three _Mercury_ class heavy battlestars and their escorts!" Admiral Corman countered. "Surely this is worthy of recognition."

"During the last year of the Cylon War, he nearly killed me and all of the pilots from the battlestars _Athena_ and _Columbia_ because he blindly walked into a Cylon trap," replied Admiral Torres.

"Just because he fell for a trick forty years ago doesn't mean that he would do so now," Admiral Corman argued.

"Nearly two hundred pilots were brutally killed by a handful of Cylon Raiders, and I was lucky–" Admiral Torres started.

"All this bantering is getting us nowhere. I have made my decision and it is final!" thundered Admiral Anthony. "Have the _Banshee_ and the stealth _Odin _prepared for launch. They will be part of Admiral Marks' battle group."

"Yes, sir," answered Admiral Torres meekly.

"I must really get going, but I will brief Admiral Marks tomorrow," Admiral Corman told Admiral Anthony before he walked out the door.

Several minutes later, Admiral Torres also left the Fleet Admiral's house.

Admiral Anthony sat back in his chair and sighed. He trusted his gut. It had helped him several times in the Cylon War and the years that followed. And it told him the Cylons were up to something.

**Chapter Two**

**Raptor 82989**

**Vice-Admiral Jason Mark's Raptor**

**Arrowhead Nebula**

In his personal Raptor, Admiral Jason Marks got his first look at the ship that would be his home for the next two years of his life. She was huge, over two kilometers long. The _Poseidon_ had five giant sublight engines to power her massive bulk. Two flight pods extended from the sides of the battlestar, with two landing bays each. The flight pods were where the colonial fighters, or Vipers, were launched. The flight pods were also what made a battlestar a battlestar. A battlestar's entire purpose was to launch Vipers.

All along the ship were its primary weapons, railguns. Capable of launching a hunk of lead and tungsten at seventy times the speed of sound, the _Poseidon's_ primary weapons, the NAC 10 railgun, were the most destructive space weapons ever created. Six primary guns were mounted on the ship, with another four in stationary mounts directly below the "alligator head" of the vessel. The ship also boasted 642 point defense turrets. These turrets were in charge of knocking down enemy missiles and destroying the adversary's fighters.

The loudspeaker crackled to life waking the admiral from his daydream. Admiral Marks maneuvered his Raptor in preparation to land.

"Raptor 82989, _Poseidon_, approach Landing Bay Alpha… hands on approach… speed 105… checker green… call the ball," said the flight officer.

"Copy that Poseidon, hands on approach, I have the ball." Admiral Marks replied before he landed the Raptor in the portside flight pod.

"Wheels are down. Mag-locks secure. Welcome aboard Admiral."

"It's good to be here. Has Commander Hende arrived?" asked the admiral.

"Affirmative, Admiral. She came aboard at 0700 yesterday morning."

"Have her report to me in my quarters in twenty minutes," ordered Marks.

"Yes, sir," the flight officer said, and then closed the channel.

Meanwhile, the Raptor was towed onto the flight deck. All around, the deck crew, or knuckle draggers, as they were referred to by the crew, scurried around fixing vipers. Sparks flew as blowtorches welded steel and titanium with a sharp hissing sound, like electricity crackling. Many Mark VII Vipers could be seen, but quite a few experimental Mark VIII's were being worked on also. At the end of the chamber four jet-black Mark III Stealthstars were visible. Amongst all this confusion, one man was yelling orders and hurrying over to fix problems.

Admiral Marks walked over to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Chief. Chief! Chief Krons! Arthur! How's life?"

The man quickly turned around and looked at the admiral.

"Jason? Is that you?" the man, Chief of the Boat Arthur Krons, asked. "How are you, old buddy?"

"Great. You?" Marks inquired.

"I knew we were getting a Vice-Admiral as our CO, but I didn't realize…" the chief trailed off.

"Didn't realize it was me? Who else could have gotten you off the Solaria?"

"True. She was the first vessel I served on. And now because Adar is gutting the fleet, she is being decommissioned. I wanted to be there when that happened, and then retire." Said Chief Krons.

"Well, you aren't going to be able to retire now, are you? We will be gone for at least two years." Replied the admiral.

"I know. But it will be great, heading off into the unknown. I've always wanted to explore." Said Krons.

"That's why I chose you for this mission." The admiral revealed.

"It's been nice seeing you, but I have a couple knuckle draggers who can't find their own arse with two hands and a hunting dog."

"That's fine. Come by later for a glass of ambrosia. We can talk about what has happened over the past three years, OK?" asked Admiral Marks.

"Of course, old friend." The chief said, and walked to a Viper where three people were standing around doing nothing. As the admiral turned to leave, Krons started yelling at the lazy crewmembers.

**1350 Hours**

**Admirals Quarters**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

Three loud knocks echoed through the suite. Admiral Marks looked up from the book he was reading. "Come in."

A tall blonde woman entered the room. She saluted and came closer to the desk. "Commander Lauren Hende reporting for duty, sir."

"At ease, Commander, have a seat." She immediately sat.

"I have been reviewing your record, Commander, and it is exemplary. You graduated top in your class. And have outstanding reports from all your superiors. They say you're a brilliant tactician and you are very book smart. However, despite all of these glowing records, you have bypassed command of your own battlestar, even though any one you ask for could be yours. May I ask why?" the admiral asked.

She shifted slightly in her seat. "I guess I'm a little afraid of failure. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that everyone lives or dies because of the choices I make. If I do get a battlestar, I want to be in command of one that is venturing off into the unknown, like the _Prometheus_ is doing now."

"I understand. You will get plenty of time to flex your command muscles on this trip, Commander. The key to command is to trust your instincts, and I think you have some damn good ones. You'll get a command when we get back, I'll make sure of it. Dismissed."

Commander Hende stood up and opened the door, passing the two marine sentries on her way out. The admiral resumed reading his book.

Thirty minutes later, the Admiral got up from his chair and walked outside. Walking down the hall, he nearly bumped into a pilot jogging through the corridors. She saw whom she had bumped into and immediately straightened up and saluted.

"What's your name, pilot?" the admiral asked.

"Captain Katie 'Deathstalker' Boller, sir. I'm sorry I bumped into you, sir," she huffed.

"At ease, Captain. No really, relax." Deathstalker visibly loosened up.

"I was just going up for my first look at the CIC. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Of course sir," Katie said.

Six decks and 400 meters later, they arrived at the CIC, or Combat Information Center. Several doors made from thick glass rotated open to admit them to the center of the ship. From this room the entire ship was directed. Around fifty people buzzed around the room working consoles and manning their stations.

"Admiral on deck!" the Operations, or Ops, officer shouted.

Across the giant room, everyone stopped working and snapped to attention. Captain Boller walked over to an unmanned station at Flight Ops.

"At ease."

The admiral picked up the phone at the tactical situation monitor in the center of the CIC. He spoke into it, his voice being heard in every corridor and room.

"This is Admiral Marks. I assumed command of this ship at 1300 hours today. Now I don't know most of you, but I'm sure we will get to know each other very well over the coming years. For those of you who do not know, we have been assigned to conduct surveillance against the Cylons. This is an important mission, and we will not falter! This is top-secret with security clearance Theta One. Only four high-ranking admirals have that clearance. No one is to know about this. You can only tell them you have gone on a recon mission. No one is to tell anyone about this mission. The penalty for breaking this rule is a summary court-martial. The charge will be treason, and the punishment is death by firing squad. However, we are Colonial Warriors! We will complete our mission! We will do whatever is asked of us, for we safeguard the Twelve Colonies and every life on those worlds. The fate of our worlds rests in each of our hands. That's all."

In the Junior Officer's mess, Ensign Julius Hawthorne said softly, "So say we all."

"So say we all!" uttered Arthur Krons on the flight deck.

Senior Petty Officer Jaime Nerres in Engineering called out, "So say we all!"

All across the ship cries of "So say we all!" were joined by others, and others until the entire ship was chanting.

A crewmember at Communications hit a button, and the CIC reverberated with cries of "So say we all!"

"So say we all!" she shouted. The entire CIC was soon filled with cheering.

"So say we all!"

"So say we all!"

"So say we all!"

"So say we all!"

**Chapter Three**

**Viper 186**

**Viper C.A.P. (Combat Air Patrol)**

Lieutenant Daniel Redblock, callsign 'Lazarus', flew his brand-new Mark VIII viper through the dense gases of the nebula. His callsign was Lazarus because on his first mission there was a fight with Tauron pirates. The pirate's cannons hit his fighter. He barely had time to eject, but his emergency beacon was destroyed. The Search and Rescue, or SAR, Raptor, didn't know if he had survived until he bumped into their cockpit windshield. Colonial pilots regarded him as unkillable.

Twisting and turning, Lazarus flew to the edge of the explored space in the nebula. He decided to push it a little farther. Just beyond the charted portion of the nebula was… something. A darker blotch stood out from the rest of the pastel colored gases. Lazarus squinted and turned his viper to see what the spot was. He swore as he accelerated, and barely missed a giant meteor slowly tumbling towards the battlestar and humongous mobile space station.

He hit the turbos and raced back to the _Poseidon_. Numerous other ships had joined it. Another three battlestars and five gunstars had joined the fleet. Daniel landed his bird and rushed up to the CIC.

**CIC **

**Battlestar Poseidon**

After the cheering died down, the commander looked at the DRADIS console.

"Sir, I am pleased to announce the rest of the fleet has arrived," Commander Hende said. "A _Mercury_ class battlestar, an _Odin_ class battlestar, three _Guardian_ class gunstars, two _Bezerek_ class heavy gunstars, and, oh my Gods, the Stealthbattlestar _Banshee_."

"Our entire fleet has arrived. Recall the CAP and prepare for our first jump. Hmm… I really like the way the CIC has windows. I wonder what a jump actually looks like,"

"I'm sure we'll find out, sir," Commander Hende responded.

Suddenly, Lazarus ran into the bridge.

"Good, Lazarus, where were you? We lost you on DRADIS," questioned Admiral Marks.

"No time to explain. There is an meteor headed for the station!" exclaimed Lazarus.

"What?" asked the commander and the admiral simultaneously.

"New contact on DRADIS! Resolving. It's a meteor, and it's on a collision course for _Babylon_!" the DRADIS officer called out.

Admiral Marks picked up the phone from the table in the center of the CIC and yelled into it, "This is the Admiral. Moments ago a meteor was detected on a collision course for the station. I am putting us on Condition One." He put the phone down.

Seconds later, alarms started to wail. "Action Stations! Action Stations! Set Condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. Action Stations!" A person called through the com system.

The four battlestars rotated to bring their forward guns to bear on the meteor. The gunstars armed what cannons they had and opened their missile tube doors. The gun crews frantically loaded ammunition into the massive NAC 10 primary railguns. The battlestars launched their alert vipers. The _Poseidon_ launched half of their fighter complement: 1 squadron of 20 Mark VIII vipers and thirteen squadrons with 20 Mark VII vipers each. Accompanying them were fifty-eight Raptors, each armed with thirty-six anti-ship missiles.

In the CIC, Admiral Marks gave the order to fire and every ship and fighter attacked. The Poseidon fired eight of her ten primary railguns and sent large heavily explosive rounds of tungsten into the meteor where they detonated. Then, her smaller, secondary railguns opened fire. Nearly three-quarters of her ninety NAC 5 railguns fired in their opening salvo.

Vipers and Raptors let loose, firing brightly colored tracer rounds which exploded on the meteor's flank. Still, the meteor continued forward propelled by its massive amount of inertia.

When it came in range, the station opened up. _Babylon_ had the largest cannons of any Colonial ship or station. The weapons themselves were over one hundred meters long. They fired their first salvo and a quarter of the meteor shattered and went careening off into space.

After a short time, the meteor disintegrated. It was the _Banshee_ who sent the slug that obliterated the core of the meteor.

The vipers were sent to destroy the smaller remnants of the meteor so it would not be a hazard to any future ships that would go to the area.

Three days later, the _Poseidon_ and the eight other ships that made up BSG-38, or the thirty-eighth battlestar group jumped for the Red Line.

**CIC**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

"That was amazing," Admiral Marks was awed. He was staring directly at the windows towards the front of the CIC.

"It was," Commander Hende agreed.

"I've never seen an actual jump before. It looked almost magical," Deathstalker said.

"We should do that again. Navigation, start the jump clock," the admiral ordered. And so he set out for the adventure of his life, an adventure that would span countless days, planets, and solar systems. Their mission had finally begun.

**Epilogue**

**Cylon Basestar Mark V Designation 001**

**Somewhere Beyond the Red Line**

The Basestar Mark V, or the command basestar, hovered over the Cylon homeworld.

Inside, five humanoid models and half a dozen centurions were in the hybrid's chamber. The hybrid was the center of the organic ship, controlling all of its functions. In essence, she was the basestar. She babbled incoherently, unaware of the conversation taking place mere feet from her.

The Number One Cylon known as Justin Cavil fumed. "Frak. The plan should have worked perfectly," he said, half to himself. "The station should have been destroyed. "

A Six frowned, "And then there are those mysterious battlestars to worry about. We don't have any humanoid Cylons aboard them since the radiation inside the nebula affects our silica pathways," she said.

"That's why we were forced to use the asteroid in the first place. We can't resurrect, and if we die, then we will die permanently," a lithe Three replied.

"I told you it wouldn't work," a Leoben copy stated. "The asteroid had no weaponry. It couldn't defend itself from attack. The battlestars did not matter. Scans show that the station was more powerful than all the ships combined!"

A Doral model stepped out from behind two Centurions. " We should concentrate on finding ways to make our baseships and raiders invulnerable to the radiation. It can be found in several other places, such as Ragnar Anchorage. We will need to attack Ragnar and that station if we truly want to wipe out the humans."

"Agreed. Tell the Simons to start working on it," the Three told an older Centurion.

Its red light moved from side to side. "By your command."


	2. Chapter 2

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**By Nick Yarka**

**Episode Two:**

**Old Evil**

Based on _Battlestar Galactica_ by Glen Larson, and the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_ by Ronald Moore and David Eick. © 1978 and © 2003 all rights reserved. All rights not reserved by the original intellectual property owners are retained by the author.

**Previously, on Battlestar Poseidon**

"_I propose that we send a number of our stealth ships plus a few heavy battlestars and gunstars to determine the size of Cylon controlled space and the strength of their military," the admiral explained._

_Before President Adar took office, there were 203 active battlestars, three dozen warstars, 351 active gunstars, 112 assaultstars, 68 strikestars, over five hundred scoutstars, several hundred cruisers, and 350 non-combatant military ships, like constructstars and medstars. By the time of the fall, nearly forty percent of the fleet will be gone._

"_I have built another _Exeter_ class battlestar at their shipyards, the _Poseidon_. I'm giving command of her to Vice-Admiral Marks." Admiral Anthony told the other Admirals._

"_During the last year of the Cylon War, he nearly killed me and all of the pilots from the battlestars _Athena_ and _Columbia_ because he blindly walked into a Cylon trap," replied Admiral Torres._

"_This is Admiral Marks. I assumed command of this ship at 1300 hours today. Now I don't know most of you, but I'm sure we will get to know each other very well over the coming years. For those of you who do not know, we have been assigned to conduct surveillance against the Cylons. This is an important mission, and we will not falter! This is top-secret with security clearance Theta One. Only four high-ranking admirals have that clearance. No one is to know about this. You can only tell them you have gone on a recon mission. No one is to tell anyone about this mission. The penalty for breaking this rule is a summary court-martial. The charge will be treason, and the punishment is death by firing squad. However, we are Colonial Warriors! We will complete our mission! We will do whatever is asked of us, for we safeguard the Twelve Colonies and every life on those worlds. The fate of our worlds rests in each of our hands. That's all."_

"_So say we all!"_

"_So say we all!"_

"_So say we all!"_

"_So say we all!"_

"_Sir, I am pleased to announce the rest of the fleet has arrived__:__ A _Mercury_ class battlestar, an _Odin_ class battlestar, three _Guardian_ class gunstars, two _Bezerek_ class heavy gunstars, and the Stealthbattlestar _Banshee_._

"_New_ _contact on DRADIS! Resolving. It's a meteor, and it's on a collision course for Babylon!" the DRADIS officer called out._

_The _Poseidon_ launched half of its fighter complement: 1 squadron of 20 Mark VIII vipers and thirteen squadrons with 20 Mark VII vipers each. Accompanying them were fifty-eight Raptors, each armed with thirty-six anti-ship missiles._

_The_ Poseidon_ fired eight of her ten primary railguns and sent large heavily explosive rounds of tungsten into the meteor where they detonated. Then, her smaller, secondary railguns opened fire. Nearly three-quarters of her ninety NAC 5 railguns fired in their opening salvo. _

**Prologue**

**Officer's Mess**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

Hector 'Greenbean' Rigel, a Raptor pilot, ate at one of the circular tables in the officer's mess. After his meal he would have to do another scouting run, like he did every other day for the past six months. He was pondering the reason for the mission being so mundane when he glanced at the chronometer. _Frak_, he thought to himself, _we're supposed to launch three minutes from now._ He quickly devoured the rest of his meal and hurried to the pilot's quarters. After suiting up, Greenbean journeyed to the starboard flight pod. Greenbean was met by his ECO, or Electronic Communications Officer, whose callsign was Gamma.

"Where you been?" asked Gamma.

"I was having lunch," replied Greenbean.

"Not a good idea. I bet you ten cubits that you vomit while we're on patrol."

"OK. You're going to owe me ten cubits," Greenbean said. They shook hands.

"Fine, now let's go. Our patrol was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago." Gamma said.

They climbed into the Raptor and started the launch sequence. The Raptor surged to life and flew gracefully out the landing bay. Once the Raptor was far enough away from the _Poseidon_, it FTL'd to a nearby system to begin its recon mission.

The Raptor felt like it was getting smaller. Greenbean felt a tingling sensation in his spine and neck. The universe imploded in the space of a microsecond, and spat the Raptor back into space one and a half light-years away. Unfortunately, the human body did not take kindly to being compressed to the size of an electron, and made it known by retching and throwing up whatever the body had eaten last. For Greenbean this meant lunch. He barely kept it down. After his stomach started settling down he looked through the glass canopy. I the middle of the dense asteroid field, he could make out a metallic object.

"Gamma. Gamma! Come up here," he ordered.

"What's up?" Gamma asked.

"Look," Greenbean told him. "Do you see what I see?"

"Wow", Gamma breathed. "We need to report back to the _Poseidon._"

"First, we should take some pictures."

"Agreed," said Gamma.

With the built in camera, they took several pictures.

"Jumping in three… two… one… jump." Greenbean told Gamma.

The unpleasant sensation was back, and Greenbean could no longer hold his lunch in. He vomited inside his helmet, an unpleasant experience to say the least.

"Gamma, take over as pilot. I think I owe you ten cubits," he reported.

**Chapter One**

**CIC**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

Admiral Jason Marks, the commander of the _Poseidon_ and the other eight ships that made up BSG-38, was at the tactical situation table in the center of the CIC. He was looking at the pictures along with his executive officer, Commander Lauren Hende.

"A Cylon mine," he breathed. "I remember these from the Cylon War. I ran into a couple of these when I was the CAG of the _Athena_. They were nasty fighter killers. I accidentally led the fighter groups from two battlestars into a place where they could easily jump in and detonate. I lost a lot of good people that day."

"This one seems to have been modified to work as a communications satellite. Look at the arrays on it." Commander Hende said.

"I know. This is just too tempting a target to pass up. It undoubtedly has Cylon frequencies, and we could use it to get into their core systems." The admiral replied.

"You are right, but how are we going to do it? I mean without the Cylons finding out? We could end up starting another war, and the last time it happened, billions of lives were lost on both sides," the commander told Admiral Marks.

"Let me think. We'll need to have constant Raptor surveillance, of course. Personally, I think we should have an asteroid 'collide' with it and completely destroy it."

"That's a good idea. Should we start fabricating parts for the remains?" questioned Commander Hende.

"Yes. Have the next surveillance Raptor take some detailed scans of it so we can start fabricating pieces of debris approximately equivalent to the mass with the proper amounts of metals."

"Yes, sir, "she acknowledged.

They began planning, and finally came up with a detailed plan. Raptors would be sent out to look for sizable piece of space debris. The debris would have to be large enough to be able to obliterate a small station, but small enough to be moved easily. Once an asteroid matching these requirements was found, the rest of the Raptors would jump in and begin towing the piece of rubble towards the Cylon mine. In sixteen hours, ten Raptors would jump in, and destroy the comm. array. The _Poseidon_ and a _Bezerek_ gunstar would follow. The _Poseidon_ would deploy the fake pieces of wreckage and tow the station into one of its flight pods. The _Bezerek_ gunstar would act as an escort in case anything unexpected happened.

Greenbean and Gamma were assigned the first surveillance watch.

**Stealth Raptor 247**

**On Patrol in Devron System**

Greenbean studied the DRADIS display. His stealth Raptor, while almost impossible to detect, would still be detected if they made an active scan. Therefore, he landed the Raptor on one of the largest floating pieces of debris. He turned to Gamma.

"All ready. You may commence active scan," he told Gamma.

"Confirmed. Starting now, " he replied as he worked his console.

**Cylon Communications Drone 17633-Alpha**

**2016 Hours**

A Cylon Centurion, designation 008-lo71-b01, was in dormant mode. It had been in the comatose state for two years, when the satellite went online. The station had been in the midst of sending a routine status report when sensors noticed an active scan was taking place. Three minutes later, an FTL jump was recorded. The Centurion overrode the status report and sent a priority status report to the nearest basestar. The Centurion also sent the specifications for the station. The baseship might send over a few wings of Raiders, and since it was old, the communications station could not support the newest type of Cylon Raider.

**Stealth Raptor 247**

**Returning From Patrol in Devron System**

The Raptor approached the starboard flight pod, and flipped, as hanger bay two's gravity was opposite the rest of the ship, making right side up upside down. Another Raptor was launched, and FTL'd out to continue the surveillance.

"_Poseidon_, this is Raptor 247. The chickens are in the henhouse. When will the fox start the raid?" asked Greenbean.

"We will be leaving in twelve hours Raptor 247." The flight officer responded.

The Raptor docked, and Greenbean and Gamma stepped out. Gamma took in the sight of all the fighters.

"Just think, Greenbean. In twelve hours all of our planes will be out there watching to make sure nothing goes wrong. I want to be out there with them," said Gamma.

"OK. Whatever. I'm going to hit the sack," answered Greenbean groggily.

They both headed off in different directions. Gamma went to see Lazarus and volunteered to fly on the upcoming mission. Lazarus agreed, and told Gamma to be ready by 0300 the following morning.

**Chapter Two**

**Stealth Raptor 226**

**Maintaining Surveillance on Cylon Mine**

Lieutenant Harvey 'Moonstone' Jensen was flying solo for the first time in months. His co-pilot was injured playing pyramid, and Dr. Salik said he wouldn't be able to fly for at least a month. As he was drifting off in his thoughts, a beeping brought him back to reality. A new contact had appeared on DRADIS. He took a look. A giant, star shaped ship was hovering over the station. He wondered what it was. Had an alien ship discovered the mine? Then, Moonstone realized the strange ship was bilayered and a single pylon in the center of the ship connected the layers. It looked similar to the photographs of the Baseships used in the first Cylon War. It was also deploying wing-like ships that the Warbook immediately recognized as the Cylon Raiders used in the First War. Following the Raiders were two station-like things that began orbiting the mine. _Defense Platforms_, Moonstone realized. _I have to warn the_ Poseidon _before they start their attack. Frak, it starts in twenty-four minutes._ He activated the FTL drive and was transported back to the battle group.

"Raptor 226, _Poseidon_, why have you returned early?"

"Patch me through to actual, I have some information that he needs to know," responded Moonstone.

**CIC**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

"Say again?" asked Admiral Marks.

"I repeat, Admiral, you will be walking into a Cylon trap. When I jumped out there was a basestar launching Raiders and defense satellites," the voice of Moonstone echoed throughout the CIC.

"Frak," the admiral cursed. "We were so close. If the baseship had come one hour later…"

"Sir, we do have a number of stealth ships in our fleet, why don't we use those?" an officer asked. "We could sneak up on them using our sublight engines and completely surprise them. We might even the odds a bit.

The admiral turned to look at the officer. She was young. _Barely out of the academy,_ the admiral thought. _She is a quick thinker, though._ She shrank back from his stare.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Ensign Jamie Hamilton, sir." She responded.

"Well ensign, I have to give it to you. You're smart. Others might not have thought of that. I admire your ingenuity and as a flag officer in the Colonial Fleet, I am promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant. Congratulations," he told her. This was not unusual for the admiral. He rewarded originality, ingenuity, and leadership, some things he learned when he was part of the Colonial Scouts.

"Thank you, sir." She sounded amazed.

"The honor was mine, Lieutenant," he replied.

"Commander Hende, per this officer's advice, I will transfer my flag to the stealth-_Odin._"

"Yes, sir. _Poseidon_ will await your return," she saluted.

**CIC**

**Battlestar Shadow's Cloak**

Twelve hours later, the admiral was standing in the CIC, which also had windows. Admiral Marks and Commander Que, the commander of the _Shadows Cloak_, were standing around the tactical situation monitor, looking at the DRADIS console. Commander Que was a Special Ops fleet officer, whose strong suits were subterfuge and stealth.

"I'm amazed at this ship." Admiral Marks said to Commander Que.

While many of the _Odin_ class ships, like the _Valkyrie_, had been in service since the Cylon War, the _Shadow's Cloak_ was only built the previous year. The ship was 700 meters long, sporting six engines, two more than the standard _Odin_ class, and slightly larger flight pods, which allowed for more Viper launch tubes. Only as long as the flight pod of a _Jupiter_ class battlestar, like the _Galactica_, the _Shadow's Cloak_ was jet black and coated in carbon composite material, which made the ship invisible to the naked eye and on DRADIS.

Since the _Odins_ and _Shadow's Cloak_ were so small, they naturally had smaller weaponry, albeit they had more weaponry per square meter than other classes of battlestars. Unlike other _Odin_ class ships, which had thirty-five NAC 3.5 railguns and sixteen NAC 2 railguns, the _Shadow's Cloak_ had four NAC 5 railguns, thirty-two NAC 3.5 railguns and forty NAC 2 railguns. Similarly to the _Odin_ class, the _Shadow's Cloak_ had 480 point-defense turrets. In addition, the _Shadow's Cloak_ had eighteen missile launchers capable of firing both conventional and nuclear warheads.

The ship was built with one purpose, to sneak up on unsuspecting capital ships and stations and destroy them before they knew what hit them.

"Thank you, sir," Que replied.

"All the stealthstars and Mark VIII's are on board, Commander," the flight officer reported.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Que responded.

"We're at 100 percent mission ready, sir," Que reported. "Just say the word, and we will jump."

"Commander Que, the word is given. Set Condition One throughout the ship," The admiral answered.

"Action stations, action stations, set Condition One throughout the ship. This is not a drill. I repeat, action stations, action stations, set Condition One throughout the ship." A voice blared over the intercom.

"Jumping in five… four… three… two… one… jump!" the navigation officer said as the ship was instantaneously propelled one and a half light-years away.

"Jump complete, we are free and clear to navigate, sir." The navigation officer reported.

"Steady as she goes." The admiral replied. "Bring us to two-six-five karem zero-zero-zero. Down thirty on the bow planes and seventy on the starboard rudder."

"Aye, sir." The navigation officer repeated his orders. "Closing in on the Cylon Mine."

Overhead on the DRADIS Console, two squadrons of fighters appeared that were immediately marked as hostile.

"Reading sixty Cylon Raiders. It doesn't look like we've been spotted, sir. Also, DRADIS is picking up two defense satellites," informed the DRADIS officer.

"I see them," the admiral told him. "Prepare to activate the contingency plan."

Several minutes later, the _Shadow's Cloak_ was in range of the Cylon Mine. Vipers were launched and all two hundred raced towards the smaller force of Cylon Raiders. Several Raptors were launched, with ECM, or Electronic Counter Measure packages designed to block enemy communications. Three were launched with thirty-two standard missiles and four nuclear tipped ones.

Accompanying them were a squadron of six Scimitar Bombers. These ships had the same design as a Raptor, but sacrificed its passenger or troop capacity and their FTL drive for two more 20mm cannons and a bomb bay capable of holding twenty-five missiles. When a strafing run on a station or a battalion of tanks needed to be wiped out, the Scimitar bombers got the call. Unfortunately, they were still in early production stages, and the ones the _Shadow's Cloak_ fielded were only the eighteenth squadron to be produced. No ship could produce replacement parts or build new ones, so if one was damaged or destroyed they could not replace or repair them.

"Where is the basestar?" asked Commander Que.

"She's not here. After deploying the Raiders she probably moved off," the DRADIS officer replied.

"I'm not so sure. Keep an eye out for any strange readings on DRADIS," he told the DRADIS officer.

"We're ready, sir," the tactical officer said as he listened to the chatter over the wireless.

"Then by all means, open fire," ordered Admiral Marks.

**Chapter Three**

**Devron System**

In the cockpit of his Mark VIII Viper, Captain Daniel 'Lazarus' Redblock, CAG or Commander of the Air Group of the Battlestar Poseidon, flew in formation.

"Arrowhead formation. Razzle-dazzle. Don't let them use their targeting computers. We're going to have to get up close and personal with the Raiders, so stay with your wingman. None of us can afford to be blown away because the debris from our Vipers could let the enemy know who started the attack and may retaliate against the Colonies." Lazarus said to his squadron, the Bronze Spears.

The Cylons noticed the massive amount of fighters headed their way and moved to engage. The mine started to send out a distress call, but the ECM jammers on the Raptors quickly blocked all transmissions.

The Vipers and Raiders started dogfighting. Several Raiders were destroyed, but six were regrouping and attempting to sneak up on several of the Viper's flanks.

"Hold it together, guys," said Captain 'Deathstalker' Boller said as she saw the formations of the Vipers begin to falter.

"Jitterbug, two Cylon Raiders on your five, closing fast." A voice sounded over the intercom.

"I can't shake them," Jitterbug said frantically.

Deathstalker looked for Jitterbug's viper and saw him being harassed by several Cylon Raiders, with more joining the hunt every second.

"Jitterbug, Deathstalker, need a hand? Angel, get on my six. Let's bag some toasters," she said over the intercom.

Deathstalker and Angel, her wingman, flew closer to Jitterbug's Viper. The two women fired their four 20mm cannons, and immediately destroyed three Raiders. Two raiders broke away and headed for the new Vipers. "

I'll draw them off," said Angel, and she flipped her Viper around to lead the incoming Raiders away. The ploy worked. The Raiders were drawn off by Angel's Viper and let Deathstalker continue on towards the mass of fighters swarming around Jitterbug's Viper.

Ensign Victoria 'Angel' Jones weaved through space avoiding the weapons fire from the two pursuing Raiders. Firing her guns, she took out a passing Raider. _That makes two_, she thought. _Time to make it four. _She twisted around, cut her engines, and armed her missile bays. Because of her inertia, the Viper was still traveling away from the Raiders, but they were drawing close. When they came in range, Angel fired her missiles. Two impacted a Raider, blowing it from the stars. Another hit the second Raider square in the cockpit, destroying the centurions inside but leaving the hull intact. She signaled the _Shadow's Cloak._

"This is Angel. I have a salvageable Raider at my coordinates. Recommend sending a Raptor to pick it up for study."

"Confirmed, Angel. We're sending a Raptor now." The flight officer told her.

She held position until the Raptor picked the Raider up, and then rushed back into the fray.

Meanwhile, Deathstalker was concentrating on destroying the Cylon Raiders that were attempting to blow Jitterbug out of space. She dispatched one, then two fighters. A centurion managed to survive the destruction of his Raider and turned to face Deathstalker. His red eye moved from side to side before she fired on him. The single eye went dark as the bullets pierced its battery pack.

She noticed that several Raiders were breaking off and moving to engage her. She tried to concentrate on killing them before they killed her, but was interrupted by Jitterbug yelling "Kryptor, kryptor, kryptor. This is Jitterbug. I'm surrounded by Raiders and need immediate assistance!"

Thirty seconds later, Jitterbug made another announcement, "I'm hit! I'm hi–" before the line dissolved in static.

Another message followed shortly after. "All birds disengage and lead the remaining Raiders off to 276 karem 132. We will go after the defense platforms and the mine."

The Vipers complied. One hundred ninety-six Vipers retreated, followed by the eighteen remaining Raiders. One Viper stood guard over two ejection seats that contained the pilots of two of the destroyed Vipers. Jitterbug was not among them.

A few minutes later, all of the Raiders were destroyed. They fought to the bitter end, but the size of the force they were going up against made victory untenable.

Meanwhile, the _Shadow's Cloak_ advanced on the defense platforms. They came to life and began targeting the battlestar.

The defense platforms started firing missiles. As they drew closer, the point-defense turrets opened fire, knocking down missile after missile. Even though the small turrets were incredibly accurate, a single missile got through.

In the CIC, Commander Que saw the one missile closing, and snatched the phone from the tactical situation monitor.

"Incoming missile. All hands brace for impact," he warned.

The missile hit and detonated on the midsection of the _Shadow's Cloak._

"What's it like, Ensign?" Admiral Marks questioned the damage control officer.

"Nothing major, mostly cosmetic damage," he reported. "If it was a nuke it would have been a lot worse."

"That's good. Time until we are in effective firing range?" Commander Que asked.

"Thirty seconds until we have a firing solution." Tactical said.

Half a minute later, the main guns opened up. The weapons were small, but quite lethal. The first few shots demolished one satellite. The other was able to launch a handful of interceptor missiles, so it wasn't completely destroyed. However, it was heavily damaged.

"Take us in," the admiral ordered.

The massive bulk of the _Shadow's Cloak _moved forward. Two Raptors were launched, and they completely stopped the Cylon Mine from moving, as it was trying to escape on sublight. The starboard flight pod grew closer and closer until it encased the mine. Once it was fastened down, a team of marines destroyed the centurion inside.

The _Shadow's Cloak_ moved away from the remaining satellite. One of the gun turrets swiveled until it faced the damaged satellite, yet it did not fire.

"Load nuclear ship to ship missile into gun turret Echo Three," Admiral Marks ordered. "Commander Que, Colonel Nixey, enter your command codes and prepare to use your Nuclear Launch Keys."

"Yes, sir," they responded.

"We have passed minimum safe distance," the tactical officer said.

"Use of nuclear ordinance… is authorized." Admiral Marks spoke.

The two officers turned their nuclear launch keys in their slots and a single missile shot out of the gun turret and rocketed towards the disabled satellite. With a huge explosion, the satellite was shredded and melted together, leaving just a large cloud of gas.

The _Shadow's Cloak_ recalled its Vipers and jumped out. Seconds later, a quartet of Cylon Baseships jumped in, along with a ship that was clearly not of human origin. The ship was formed of many ribs that were swept to a point at the top of the strange ship. Aboard the Resurrection Ship, as it was called by the Cylons, an intensive scan was conducted. There was nothing left. No Cylons could be resurrected. They had been too far away for a Cylon's consciousness to be downloaded.

**Epilogue**

**Admiral's Quarters**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

Admiral Marks looked over the after action reports with Commanders Hende and Que.

"This little communications station was a gold mine," he remarked. "Although we suffered four casualties, we destroyed sixty fighters and two defense platforms. We could have suffered many more casualties. Due to the communications we have intercepted, the Cylons believe we just destroyed the outpost, not captured it. Our new Raider will come in handy, too."

"I agree Admiral. The entire operation couldn't have gone better," said Commander Que.

"I don't know if the Cylons really believe we just destroyed the mine. They could just be saying these things on the channels we have, and feed us wrong information." Commander Hende told the other officers.

"Only time will tell," said Admiral Marks.

In the starboard launch bay of the _Poseidon_, the priest, a portly man by the name of Lance, was giving the sermon for the deceased.

"Lords of Kobol, hear our prayer. May these souls rest eternally in the Elysian Fields. May Hades see fit to keep you in happiness for the rest of eternity. Now, we will commit the bodies to the deep," he intoned.

The four bodies, covered in flags, were moved into Jitterbug's launch tube. The doors slowly closed letting the assembled crew one last look at the dead. A mournful song was played as the crew saluted. The atmosphere was vented, and another door opened, exposing the blackness of space. The bodies drifted slowly towards the exit, where they would make their final journey into the nearby sun.

**Cylon Basestar Mark IV**

**Devron System**

"How could this have happened?" Justin Cavil was raging.

"Evidently, a large force attacked the communications station. We found radiation corresponding with a thermonuclear device between the twenty and thirty megaton range. Nothing would have been able to escape the blast. At least the humans, or whoever attacked it, were not able to salvage anything from it. They do not know our communications codes." Seth, a Five, spoke.

"Thank you for stating the blatantly obvious because sometimes I forget," Justin sneered. "Why do all the Fives have to be such imbeciles?"

"Justin, I think we should make our communications satellites much more well armed. Take a look at this," a Three said as she showed him a set of blueprints.

"Ten squadrons of Raiders, two squadrons of Heavy Raiders, multiple missile launchers, I like this." Justin told the others.

"Have these blueprints shown to the other baseship commanders."

"By your command," she said.

"I am leaving for a meeting with the other Ones. I'm taking my Heavy Raider to John's basestar. Have it prepped for immediate departure," he told the other models and strode from the control room.

"He's starting to become irrational," Seth told the Three.

"Don't worry. I'll watch him," she replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**By Nick Yarka**

**Episode Three:**

**New Faces**

Based on _Battlestar Galactica_ by Glen Larson, and the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_ by Ronald Moore and David Eick. © 1978 and © 2003 all rights reserved. All rights not reserved by the original intellectual property owners are retained by the author.

**Warning:**

_**Any episode after this one may contain spoilers. Do not read if you haven't seen the BSG TV show.**_

**Previously, on Battlestar Poseidon**

"_Sir, I am pleased to announce the rest of the fleet has arrived__:__ A _Mercury_ class battlestar, an _Odin_ class battlestar, three _Guardian_ class gunstars, two _Bezerek_ class heavy gunstars, and the Stealthbattlestar _Banshee_._

_The _Poseidon_ launched half of its fighter complement: 1 squadron of 20 Mark VIII vipers and thirteen squadrons with 20 Mark VII vipers each. Accompanying them were fifty-eight Raptors, each armed with thirty-six anti-ship missiles._

_Lieutenant Harvey 'Moonstone' Jensen was flying solo for the first time in months. His co-pilot was injured playing pyramid, and Dr. Salik said he wouldn't be able to fly for at least a month. As he was drifting off in his thoughts, a beeping brought him back to reality. A new contact had appeared on DRADIS. He took a look. A giant, star shaped ship was hovering over the station._

_Moonstone realized the strange ship was bilayered and a single pylon in the center of the ship connected the layers. It looked similar to the photographs of the Baseships used in the first Cylon War. It was also deploying wing-like ships that the Warbook immediately recognized as the Cylon Raiders used in the First War._

_While many of the _Odin_ class ships, like the _Valkyrie_, had been in service since the Cylon War, the _Shadow's Cloak_ was only built the previous year. The ship was 700 meters long, sporting six engines, two more than the standard _Odin_ class, and slightly larger flight pods, which allowed for more Viper launch tubes. Only as long as the flight pod of a _Jupiter_ class battlestar, like the _Galactica_, the _Shadow's Cloak_ was jet black and coated in carbon composite material, which made the ship invisible to the naked eye and on DRADIS._

_Meanwhile, Deathstalker was concentrating on destroying the Cylon Raiders that were attempting to blow Jitterbug out of space. She dispatched one, then two fighters. A centurion managed to survive the destruction of his Raider and turned to face Deathstalker. His red eye moved from side to side before she fired on him. The single eye went dark as the bullets pierced its battery pack._

"_Incoming missile. All hands brace for impact," he warned._

"_Use of nuclear ordinance… is authorized." Admiral Marks spoke._

"_This little communications station was a gold mine," he remarked. "Although we suffered four casualties, we destroyed sixty fighters and two defense platforms. We could have suffered many more casualties. Due to the communications we have intercepted, the Cylons believe we just destroyed the outpost, not captured it. Our new Raider will come in handy, too."_

**Prologue**

Admiral Jason Marks was dreaming, and he knew it. He was aware of his surroundings and started looking around. It was dark, around midnight with the only illumination coming from the full moon directly overhead, and he was going up a road full of Victorian houses. Strangely, his feet were not touching the ground. Hooded figures wearing dark grey robes exited the houses and stood at the side of the street. He continued moving, and came to the last house. It was larger and more menacing than the others. Admiral Marks floated up to the house and into it, the front door eerily opening. He heard a strange noise, like a propeller turning. He was drawn to it, moving through the parlor, the dining room, and into the kitchen. In the center of the kitchen was a pipe, with a fan fixed on top. The fan was sucking in the universe, and eventually, he was sucked down the pipe.

Strange images appeared in front of him. He was floating in front of his birth world, Caprica. He watched the four _Odin_ class battlestars and single _Jupiter_ class battlestar before several star shaped ships appeared. These ships immediately deployed fighters and flew towards the battlestars. Peculiarly, the battlestars lost power just as the fighters came in range of their weapons. The star shaped ships proceeded to ravage the surface of the once beautiful world with nuclear hellfire.

The images shifted again. A singe _Jupiter_ class battlestar was fighting the star shaped ships in deep space. It covered for other, civilian ships to escape, and then jumped as well.

Five battlestars, including two _Nova_ class battlestars, and eight gunstars attacked fifteen of the star shaped ships.

The _Jupiter_ and a _Mercury_ class battlestar attack and destroy two star ships and a ship that looks like a phalanx of fighters. A fighter that the star shaped ships deployed flew by, and from the roving light it used as an eye, the admiral realized the star shaped ships were baseships.

The _Jupiter _jumped into the atmosphere of a planet. It was pulled by gravity down towards the planet below. Its fighters were being launched as the ships hull ablated and glowed red-hot. Just before it hit the surface, it jumped away.

In a nebula, the _Jupiter_ was hounded by star shaped Basestars. It was standing tall longer than any ship could be asked to, but the ship was absorbing repeated missile hits. Its engines flickered when a missile impacted the battlestar. Admiral Marks watched the scene unfold with apprehension. A flash of light distracted him from the ailing ship.

The _Mercury_ had flashed into existence and was firing all of its weapons at the Baseships. As it flew by, Admiral Marks could make out the name _Pegasus_ on the side of one of its flight pods. One basestar was destroyed immediately, and the _Pegasus_ proceeded to go into the center of the formation. The _Jupiter _class battlestar jumped out, and the_ Pegasus _rammed a basestar and exploded, with one of its flight pods colliding with the final basestar.

Admiral Marks was surrounded in a white light. All around, he could hear the beating of his heart.

_Where am I?_ he wondered.

"A place both here and not here," a feminine voice replied.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" the admiral cried out.

A tall, blond woman appeared in front of him. "I am who your race calls Athena, one of the Lords of Kobol," she responded.

"Why am I here? What do you want?" Admiral Marks asked.

"I can only contact you here, where space, thought, and time mix. All are the same. It is not linear."

"I don't understand," Marks said.

"I am not the real Athena," she explained. "I died thousands of years ago on Kobol. However, I am still alive. My spirit resides here, free from time. I can bring others here for short periods of time."

"What did I see before?" the Admiral asked.

"The future. Humanity will bring this upon itself. You will destroy yourselves, just as you have done before, and you will do so again."

"What do I have to do with this?" he inquired.

"Your destiny will be revealed to you, in time. I will just say that you and your ship are more important than you realize." Athena answered.

The white mist surrounding them was darkening.

Athena called, "Remember, all this has happened before, and will happen again, again, again, again, again."

By now, Admiral Marks was in complete blackness, but Athena's voice echoed on, "again, again, again," until he could no longer hear it. The blackness engulfed him, and he screamed.

Admiral Marks woke up in a cold sweat. He dressed, and headed up to the CIC. Strangely, he could remember this dream. Usually they faded once he woke up.

"It was just a dream, it wasn't real," he muttered to himself.

"But it was real," a voice that sounded exactly like Athena said.

"No it wasn't. It wasn't," Admiral Marks said as he reached the CIC.

"What wasn't?" Commander Hende asked.

"I'll tell you about it later. Prepare to jump."

**Chapter One**

**Protoplanetary Disc**

**Veridian System**

**Bridge**

**Battlecruiser Helios**

Fleet Overseer Peter Hayes, Commander of the Eastern Alliance military and the Overseer of the Third Fleet, strode up to the bridge of the EAS, or Eastern Alliance Ship, _Helios._ The flagship of the fleet was undergoing trials before its actual commissioning. The ship had preformed well on its FTL and sublight trails, and now it was time to test the weapons systems.

The _Helios_ was a new technological marvel, with thirty fighters, railguns, and a working FTL drive. Both fighters and railguns were new to the Eastern Alliance fleet, which had relied upon the strike-first pattern of attack. The only weapons older ships had were missile launchers, which could launch thirty nukes at one time, and lasers for knocking down enemy nukes. All weapons on the older ships were mounted on the front of the ship. While the _Helios_ still had the nuke launchers and lasers, it was equipped with two double railguns, thirteen single railguns, and the Eastern Alliance's newest weapon: a plasma cannon. Along the dorsal and ventral surfaces were ten smaller single railguns. Unlike other Eastern Alliance ships, the _Helios _was equipped with ten missile launchers on the port and starboard sides of the ship.

Overseer Hayes looked at the fleet the _Helios_ was traveling with. Accompanying her were three _Wizard_ class destroyers, six _Deadalus_ class corvettes and six _Staci_ class gunships.

The _Wizard_ class destroyer was the previous line ship for the Eastern Alliance. It was dependant on the strike-first attack method. However, it still sported two single railguns in the front of the ship. In the back of the ship, four smaller railguns protected the engines from attackers.

The _Wizard_ class was separated into three sections, each connected by long lattices of welded steel. The first section was in the very front of the ship. It housed the majority of the weapons systems along with the crew. There was a small landing bay where shuttles could dock. Along the underside, where the hull arched up, a tube extended to the front of the ship, also connected with a web of steel. Inside was the ship's defensive laser. The second section encased the massive reactor. However, the reactor was very inefficient. It gave off so much heat that the majority of the ship was open to space, in order to cool the reactor. Superheated material was sent in long tubes through the lattices in order to cool them off. The cold of space easily bled heat from the hot atoms. Two small railguns protected this vital piece of equipment. The final part of the ship was the four giant engines capable of producing massive amounts of thrust. Several of the _Wizard_ class ships had undergone a refit to install a new reactor. The new reactor didn't need the web of framework to be open to space, so a large part of the ship was not needed. Fighter bays replaced the tubes on one of the ships in the _Helios_ fleet.

_Deadalus_ class ships were the oldest ships in the Eastern Alliance fleet. These ships were built before the invention of laser technology, so it relied on two large, stationary Kinetic Energy Weapons, or KEWs for short, for defensive weaponry. Two tanks on either side of the forward hull stored oxygen for the crew. Like the _Wizard_ class, the _Deadalus _did not have an efficient reactor and required a lattice to allow heat to radiate off the superheated gas from the reactor. However, the lattice was too small for a fighter bay and none were upgraded.

The _Stasi_ class gunship was one of the smallest craft in the Eastern Alliance fleet. Measuring only about one hundred meters long, the gunship was armed with four stationary light railguns in the bulbous head, two small double railguns, and four light single railguns. It was atmospherically capable, with two wings extending from the side of the engines.

Overseer Hayes sat at his central command chair. He looked at his SIDAR console and selected an medium sized protoplanet for the weapons test. "Target that one and fire on my command," he ordered.

"Yes, sir. The tactical officer replied.

"Open fire," Hayes said.

Aboard the _Poseidon_, Admiral Jason Marks was addressing the CIC. "We will jump into the system's protoplanetary disc. According to our Raptors, the system is uninhabitable, but we aren't going to take any chances. The protoplanet we will jump to next should have a large enough magnetic field to shield us from any scanners. We will maintain position for two days and then we will jump to the next system on our list. Helm, start the jump clock."

In the Veridian system, the _Helios_ fired her plasma cannon at the protoplanet. The twin lasers on board the _Helios_ bored through the giant protoplanet leaving large cratres, and eight nuclear warheads followed. Two more were fired three seconds later. Then the railguns on the _Helios_ opened fire.

The _Poseidon_ and the other ships of BSG-38 jumped.

**Chapter 2**

**Protoplanetary Disc**

**Veridian System**

The _Poseidon_ exited the jump right in front of two nukes. The ship shook as the warheads detonated on the port flight pod and the alligator head.

Inside the CIC, Lieutenant Jamie Hamilton, who was manning tactical, called out, "Nuclear detonations on the port flight pod decks forty-two to forty-six, frames six through fifteen. Thank the Gods for the reactive armor plating. It held, but just barely. We have high levels of radiation in the affected sections."

Commander Hende staggered over to the DRADIS console. "What hit us?" she asked.

Groggily, Admiral Marks regained his balance. "Shield," he ordered. Immediately, two giant blast doors rolled across the windows in the front of the CIC. This way, the bridge crew could not be sucked out into space because of a direct hit on the windows.

"What are those ships?" Commander Hende asked, looking at the red blips marked as unknown.

"Unknown, Commander. They do not match any known Colonial or Cylon ships. I'm currently checking the databases in the Cylon Mine for any matches, but so far there has been nothing," Lieutenant Hamilton responded.

"Bring us to Condition One and launch all Vipers. The same goes for he rest of the fleet."

The nine ships of BSG-38 rotated to face the attackers. Hundreds of Vipers were launched in a matter of seconds.

Fleet Overseer Hayes watched the SIDAR console as several ships appeared in front of the protoplanet the _Helios_ was firing on. The largest one was right in front of the last two nukes!

"Cease fire," he yelled.

A beep from the SIDAR console showed that the ships were launching lots of small craft, probably fighters. The largest ship launched five hundred sixty small craft, the second largest two hundred, and the next two, which were roughly the same size, eighty. The smallest three launched none, and the last two, that were slightly larger, launched twenty each. In total, nine hundred sixty small craft were creating an impenetrable barrier for railgun slugs and missiles.

"Launch all fighters and open hailing frequencies," the overseer ordered. Eighty fighters total were launched, twenty-four from the _Helios_ and fifty-six from the retrofitted _Wizard_ class ship, the _Justice_.

Overseer Hayes frowned. The enemy's fighters outnumbered his twelve to one. Worse, the two nukes that hit the largest ship barely dented its surface. His fleet had the numerical advantage in capital ships, but the number of fighters could easily destroy all of his ships. He hoped he could make contact with them, and they would choose not to attack.

However, if these new arrivals did choose to attack, they would need to adequately defend themselves. "Have squadrons one through six fall back to a screening formation. Have squadrons seven and eight prepare for an attack run if the need arises. Let's have all ships go to Condition Red."

Several hours passed. Both sides ordered hails, but the communications officer on the _Helios _did not let any messages get through.

The communications officer smiled inwardly. He had no intention of hailing the enemy ships. Count Trubar would be pleased. He sent the rest of the communications. "No, response to our hails, sir," he told his commanding officer.

Overseer Hayes sighed. Neither fleet had made any hostile moves, so they might not be hostile. "Send one fighter to get a look at their small craft. I want to know what they look like."

One fighter broke away from the smaller group and headed towards the _Poseidon_. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Julius Saddus, swooped by the ships. He looked at the sides, and saw writing, in Kobolan.

"I'm looking at some writing on the sides of the ships. It's in Kobolan!" he reported.

_How is this possible? _Hayes thought. _They write in our language! Could they be from Kobol, or our long-lost brothers from Earth?_

"I'm going in for a closer look. Should I go in weapons hot?" Saddus asked.

"Negative, negative. Do not go in weapons hot. I repeat, request denied," Overseer Hayes spoke into his phone.

"Affirmative. I'm going in now," Saddus said.

He swooped down by a strange looking ship, unlike all the others. It was jet-black, and had numerous sharp edges. While the other ships had a head, a body, and an engine section, this ship melded them all into a single section. Saddus wondered if it was some sort of experimental ship. He took his fighter even closer. Less than three kilometers was between Saddus' fighter and, though he did not know the name, the _Banshee_.

Captain Katie Boller, callsign 'Deathstalker', was defending the _Banshee_ as ordered by Admiral Marks. She saw the t-shaped fighter swerve in towards the _Banshee_. "I think the enemy is going on an attack run. Request weapons free from the Admiral," she queried.

"Deathstalker, this is the Admiral," Admiral Marks said over the intercom. "Go weapons free and shoot across his bow. Don't hit him, but send him a warning."

"Yes, sir," she relied eagerly.

Deathstalker raced forward, alone. She fired, and her shots barely missed the other ships bow. She veered away, but she remained close to the other fighter. She flanked the t-shaped fighter.

Saddus watched as the sharp looking fighter fired on him, red tracer rounds flying just in front of his ship. She turned sharply and flew directly behind his fighter.

"My Gods," he uttered as he waited for the explosion that would claim his life. When there was none, he tried to see behind him at the fighter. It was still behind him. Saddus flew closer and closer to the strange ship, with the fighter behind him to assure no hostile moves would be made. He could clearly see the name on the side of the ship. His fighter moved inside one of the letters. Saddus couldn't believe his eyes. The enormous letters spelled out _Banshee_. He took photographs with his onboard camera. Deciding a scan too risky, he moved away from the colossal ship towards the others. He was able to take several detailed pictures of four other ships before he was ordered to return to base.

"These people are much more powerful than we are," he said to himself. "I don't want to die in combat with them."

**Chapter Three**

**Veridian System**

**Protoplanetary Disc**

Admiral Marks watched as the fighter flew back to its ship. He waited for the enemy to make any hostile moves. When it did none, he said, "It's been eight straight hours. I'm going to my quarters."

He strode down, two marines trailing behind him. He started reading, but he laid his book down and climbed into bed.

The communications officer received a message from one of his five fellow revolutionaries aboard ship. He would fire one of the ships nuclear missiles at the largest ship in the hopes of starting a war. Then the military would be destroyed and Count Trubar's fleet of ships would save the day. He would be welcomed as a hero and that idiot Hayes would be dead. He would readily give his life to the cause.

The communications officer, as the revolutionaries leader, sent an affirmative. _God wills it_, he wrote, _so let it be done_.

Outside, one of the _Helios' _port missile tube doors opened. A single missile protruded from the opening, and fired. Pressurized gas was used to keep the missile on target, which was the _Poseidon_. Most of the fighters had been recovered so the planes could be refueled and the pilots could eat and sleep, but the _Poseidon_ still fielded over one hundred twenty fighters. However, they couldn't destroy the inbound nuke. It sped right past them. The _Poseidon_ barely had enough time to shoot it down. The electromagnetic pulse it sent out to the _Poseidon_ blinded its sensors and left it temporarily vulnerable.

Admiral Marks was drifting off into his slumber, when he felt a tremor and heard an alarm. "Action Stations, Action Stations, Admiral to the CIC!" a voice cried.

He quickly rose out of bed and hurried to get dressed.

A short trip later, Marks arrived in the CIC. "What happened?" he asked.

"The lead ship has fired a nuclear missile at us. We have lost all sensors due to the EM radiation. All of our data is coming from our visual observation posts. So far, the enemy ships have made no hostile moves. The ship that fired has not done anything else, but their fighters have taken up formations around their weapons. It's like they are trying to stop their own ship from firing on us!" the DRADIS officer reported.

"What is going on over there?" Commander Hende wondered.

Aboard the _Helios_, Overseer Hayes was in a frenzy. He was personally ordering the saboteur caught. From his personal phone, which the communications officer had the good sense no to block, he told the fighters to surround the _Helios_ and prevent her from firing. If she attempted to ram any enemy ship, they were to disable and destroy the flagship.

Five marines entered, along with one crewman who was bound with shackles.

"One of the saboteurs has been caught, Overseer. His compatriot sealed himself in an airlock. He depressurized himself rather than be captured," a marine reported. He gestured to the man with the handcuffs. "He has admitted to being part of the Tenaran Dictatorial Army."

"Great. I really hate that megalomaniac, Count Trubar. All we need now are his men running around." Overseer Hayes rubbed his eyes. He had been up for about eighteen hours. He needed rest, but he feared that another of the right-wing rebels might attack.

He addressed the terrorist. "How many other rebels are on this ship? If you don't answer me truthfully, I will kill you."

The saboteur looked at the communications officer with terror filled eyes. The communications officer looked him straight in the eyes with a stare that seemed to say _Don't tell_.

"None," the rebel said with his eyes downcast. "It was difficult to even get two operatives on the new flagship."

"Thank you for the information," the overseer said.

"Sergeant," he addressed the security guard. "Take the prisoner to an airlock, and flush him out. We can't have scum like this on our ship."

"What?" the terrorist yelled. As he was led off the bridge, the saboteur was crying and yelling, "I told you the truth! Why are you doing this? This is evil!"

Overseer Hayes turned to face him. "The bombing of Nebam six years ago was evil. Your bombing of that city killed millions, and you are calling us evil? I lost my daughter in the attack!"

This seemed to calm the saboteur. "Now I know why I must die. This is to satisfy your personal vengeance against your daughter's murderers. I can accept that." And with that, he walked out of the bridge.

"Frakking terrorists," Overseer Hayes sighed.

"Try hailing the ships again," his XO, Captain Jennifer Sudders ordered.

"Yes, sir," said the communications officer. Still preoccupied with the death of one of his comrades, he hailed the _Poseidon_.

"Sir, we are receiving a hail," the _Poseidon's_ communications officer, Ensign Katelyn Mourd, reported.

"Boost it to platinum speakers," Admiral Marks ordered. He picked up his phone from the tactical situation monitor and spoke into it. "This is Admiral Marks, Commander of the Battlestar _Poseidon_ and Battlestar Group 38. You have fired upon our ships, and we must know if your intentions are hostile."

A voice boomed over the speakers. "Negative, Battlestar _Poseidon_, negative. Our intentions are not hostile. This is Overseer Hayes, leader of the

Third Fleet and the Eastern Alliance Ship _Helios_. I wish to open diplomatic relations between our two governments, and I think we have a lot to discuss."

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**By Nick Yarka**

**Episode Four:**

**Peace Talks Part 1**

Based on _Battlestar Galactica_ by Glen Larson, and the Re-imagined _Battlestar Galactica_ by Ronald Moore and David Eick. © 1978 and © 2003 all rights reserved. All rights not reserved by the original intellectual property owners are retained by the author.

_**Sorry it's been so long since the last update. I hit the writer's block and decided to make an image of the Poseidon. The link is on my profile.  
**_

**Previously, on Battlestar Poseidon**

_Lieutenant Harvey 'Moonstone' Jensen was flying solo for the first time in months. His co-pilot was injured playing pyramid, and Dr. Salik said he wouldn't be able to fly for at least a month. As he was drifting off in his thoughts, a beeping brought him back to reality. A new contact had appeared on DRADIS. He took a look. A giant, star shaped ship was hovering over the station._

_Deathstalker was concentrating on destroying the Cylon Raiders that were attempting to blow Jitterbug out of space. She dispatched one, then two fighters. A centurion managed to survive the destruction of his Raider and turned to face Deathstalker. His red eye moved from side to side before she fired on him. The single eye went dark as the bullets pierced its battery pack._

"_Incoming missile. All hands brace for impact," he warned._

"_Use of nuclear ordinance… is authorized." Admiral Marks spoke._

"_This little communications station was a gold mine," he remarked. "Although we suffered four casualties, we destroyed sixty fighters and two defense platforms. We could have suffered many more casualties. Due to the communications we have intercepted, the Cylons believe we just destroyed the outpost, not captured it. Our new Raider will come in handy, too."_

_ Strange images appeared in front of him. He was floating in front of his birth world, Caprica. He watched the four _Odin_ class battlestars and single _Jupiter_ class battlestar before several star shaped ships appeared. These ships immediately deployed fighters and flew towards the battlestars. Peculiarly, the battlestars lost power just as the fighters came in range of their weapons. The star shaped ships proceeded to ravage the surface of the once beautiful world with nuclear hellfire. _

_ The _Jupiter_ jumped into the atmosphere of a planet. It was pulled by gravity down towards the planet below. Its fighters were being launched as the ships hull ablated and glowed red-hot. Just before it hit the surface, it jumped away._

"_I am who your race calls Athena, one of the Lords of Kobol,"_

_ Athena called, "Remember, all this has happened before, and will happen again, again, again, again, again."_

_ By now, Admiral Marks was in complete blackness, but Athena's voice echoed on, "again, again, again," until he could no longer hear it. The blackness engulfed him, and he screamed._

_The _Poseidon_ exited the jump right in front of two nukes. The ship shook as the warheads detonated on the port flight pod and the alligator head._

_Outside, one of the _Helios'_ port missile tube doors opened. A single missile protruded from the opening, and fired._

**And Now, the Continuation…**

**Chapter One**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**CIC**

**Veridian System**

"Sir, we are receiving a hail," the _Poseidon's_ communications officer, Ensign Katelyn Mourd, reported.

"Boost it to platinum speakers," Admiral Marks ordered. He picked up his phone from the tactical situation monitor and spoke into it. "This is Admiral Marks, Commander of the Battlestar _Poseidon_ and Battlestar Group 38. You have fired upon our ships, and we must know if your intentions are hostile."

A voice boomed over the speakers. "Negative, Battlestar _Poseidon_, negative. Our intentions are not hostile. This is Overseer Hayes, leader of the

Third Fleet and the Eastern Alliance Ship _Helios_. I wish to open diplomatic relations between our two governments, and I think we have a lot to discuss."

"Overseer Hayes, we have been trying to contact you for the past twelve hours? Why have you not responded?"

"We have been attempting to hail you as well," Overseer Hayes responded.

"None of your hails were received. Several hails were sent from my personal communications station. Have you had communications difficulties in the past?" queried Admiral Marks.

"Never. This ship is brand new," replied Overseer Hayes.

"I have no idea how this could have happened." Overseer Hayes said from his bridge. "However, I would like to discuss this more. Could we have a face-to-face meeting?"

"Why don't you come have a look at the ship you nuked, Overseer?" Admiral Marks asked.

"I was about to suggest that myself. I doubt the ships will fire with me on board, and no one will try and kill you."

"What?" exclaimed Admiral Marks.

"I'll tell you more about it when I arrive," responded the Overseer.

"Agreed. Send a shuttle over in three hours," said Admiral Marks. He cut the channel.

Overseer Hayes looked at the communications officer. "I'm wondering something, Mr. Verga. How come none of the communications got through?"

"I have no idea," he replied. Out of sight from the overseer's view, he rested his hand on his sidearm.

"Well, I have a theory. The admiral on the other line used his personal communications station to send the messages. And he got through to us, eventually. So that means that someone had to be preventing the signals from coming through. Care to fess up to anything?"

Verga stood up. He pointed his pistol at the Overseer. The marines on the bridge instantly reacted, pointing their assault rifles at the lieutenant. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said to the marines.

"Stand down, Sergeant," Overseer Hayes said.

"I'm leaving now, and no one will try and stop me, alright?" the comm officer spoke.

"You will not be touched. I swear as an officer," the Overseer replied.

Mr. Verga slowly walked to the door outside of the bridge. However, his pistol always stayed pointed at the Overseer's head. The automatic doors swished open and the comm officer walked out.

Overseer Hayes went to the communications station. "Order a squad of marines to guard all FTL capable ships. They are to shoot to kill Mr. Verga at sight." He told the marine commander.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

Two hours went by. During that time, the marine detachment aboard the _Helios_ looked in Mr. Verga's quarters and all over the ship. However, he could not be found.

The bridge was now under the protection of a dozen heavily armed marines. Overseer Hayes was looking at the tactical display when a report came in.

"This is sergeant Rimwath reporting, sir. Three marines were just killed outside of weapons locker nine. The perpetrator took eight G-6 explosives. We think it was Mr. Verga," a marine spoke over over the comm system.

"G-6 explosives? He could destroy the ship if he set them in the right place."

"Sir, a shuttle has taken off from the secondary storage airlock," a voice shouted.

"What? Direct our fighters to intercept," Hayes ordered.

"We have a secondary storage airlock?" a crewmember said out loud.

"If anyone could find it, it would be Verga. He was always exploring the ship," responded the first officer.

"It's spinning up its FTL drive! It's jumped, sir," the SIDAR officer reported.

"Well, at least our terrorist is off the ship," Hayes said. "Secure from Condition Red to Condition Yellow. And prepare an honor guard when we go over to meet our brothers."

"Yes, sir."

**Chapter Two**

**Overseer's Shuttle**

**Veridian System**

The _Helios_ flew in the middle of the Eastern Alliance formation. Two large doors began to slide open on the side of the ship, exposing a cavernous landing bay. Three shuttles flew out of the hangar. Eight fighters broke off from their positions defending the _Helios_ and began escorting the three shuttles. Four fighters assumed protective positions around the center shuttle, while the others moved to defend the flanking shuttles. All eleven craft moved towards the starboard flight pod of the _Poseidon_. As the three shuttles entered the flight pod and maneuvered to touch down on the landing pads, the fighters turned and flew back to the _Helios_. All three of the shuttles landed successfully and the landing pads took them down to the hangar deck.

Inside the center shuttle, Overseer Hayes looked out at the assembled crewmen. A platoon of marines was off to the side, presumably acting as an honor guard. A man in front of the assembly was directing all the crewmembers and officers.

_Is that Admiral Marks? Or was it Parks?_ wondered Overseer Hayes.

The door hissed open and the overseer heard the marine commander yell, "Atten-SHUN!"

Overseer Hayes could see that the people from the other two shuttles had already disembarked. The four marines that accompanied him on the shuttle stepped out into the expansive hangar. The junior officers exited next, followed by his first officer, and then he exited.

Looking at the man who was obviously in charge, he rendered a salute, with his fist clenched across his chest. Admiral Marks returned it with a standard salute.

"I am Overseer Peter Hayes of the Eastern Alliance," he introduced himself.

"And my name is Vice-Admiral Jason Marks of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Welcome aboard my flagship, the Battlestar _Poseidon_," his colonial counterpart responded.

"This is a moment that will be remembered throughout our history," Overseer Hayes spoke to everyone assembled. "We have finally found another sentient race, humans no less!"

"This is the first time for us as well," responded Admiral Marks. He gestured to his right, "This is my executive officer, Commander Lauren Hende."

"This is my first officer, Captain Jennifer Sudders," Overseer Hayes introduced.

Admiral Marks raised his voice, "On behalf of the Twelve Colonies, welcome!"

That broke down the barrier separating the two different groups of humanity. Everyone started cheering. People began talking to each other.

Lieutenant Commander Saddus walked over to another pilot and introduced himself. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Julius Saddus. And you are?"

"Captain Katie Boller, callsign Deathstalker. I believe I tried to shoot you down before," she replied.

"That was you? That was damn good shooting out there. You almost hit me!" Saddus was astounded.

"Well, I tried not to get too close."

"When your fighter outmaneuvered mine and started flanking me, I thought I was dead," Saddus said.

"I was ready to blow you out of the sky. I'm kind of glad I didn't." She smiled slyly.

"Well, I would like to see more of this amazing ship. Could you give me a tour?" asked the alliance member.

"Come with me. I'll show you around," Deathstalker said.

Some people were exiting the hangar deck. The two pilots slipped behind Vice Admiral Marks and Overseer Hayes. Admiral Marks turned and saw Deathstalker.

"Hey, Deathstalker, what do you here?" he asked.

"Nothing but the rain, sir," she replied.

"Then grab your gun and bring in the cat," the admiral spoke.

"Boom, boom, boom," Deathstalker laughed.

"What are you up to, Deathstalker?"

"Lieutenant Commander Julius Saddus wanted a tour of the Poseidon. Do you object, Admiral?" queried Boller.

"No objections here. Overseer Hayes, do you have any problems with this?"

"None. But if the Lieutenant Commander takes advantage of your pilot, he will be severely punished," Hayes replied.

"Understood, Overseer," Saddus said.

Admiral Marks smiled. "I think Deathstalker can take care of herself. She fended off the advances of a marine who wouldn't take no for an answer. She is a master at hand-to-hand combat, and very fleet of foot. That's how she got her callsign."

"Really?" Saddus asked.

"Yes," she replied. "Now do you want that tour or not?"

"I'm coming," he responded. Together, they moved away from the two high-ranking officers.

Overseer Hayes and Admiral Marks traversed through the _Poseidon_ and came to a halt in front of a door marked Conference Room 1-B.

The two flag officers stepped into the conference room. Admiral Marks gestured at the chairs around an oblong table. "Sit, please. We have a lot to talk about."

Verga sat in the cockpit of his shuttle wearing the explosives in a vest. He had jumped away to a set of coordinates and then jumped again double the SIDAR range of the _Helios_. Using low power, he was able to maneuver towards the _Poseidon_. He was going to cut through the hull of the Poseidon and kill its commander. He had seen Helios shuttle people over, so he assumed Overseer Hayes was on board too. _Good_, he thought, _I'll kill two birds with on stone._

Three minutes later, he was inside. Now to find Admiral Marks and Overseer Hayes.

**Chapter Three**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**Conference Room 1-B**

**Veridian System**

Overseer Hayes looked over at Admiral Marks from his seat. "So where are you from? Earth, Kobol, the birthplace of us all?"

"We were originally from Kobol. The Twelve Tribes left Kobol four thousand years ago, and settled on twelve different worlds. All of us are from these worlds," Admiral Marks replied.

"You are from our Twelve Brothers?" Overseer Hayes asked. "Are you one united entity?"

"Yes, but only in the last 100 years. We were a loose coalition of planets before the Cylons came."

"The Cylons? Is that a terrorist group?" queried the Overseer.

"No. They are mechanical beings we created to work as slaves for us around fifty-five years ago. They gained sentience and rebelled against us. There was a twelve-year war between us and the Cylons, which ended when the Cylons left the Twelve Colonies for a world to call their own. That war united us. We were sent on a mission to find the Cylon homeworld. What about you?" Marks said.

"We were part of the thirteenth tribe of Kobol; the one that went to Earth. However, along the way, some of us lost the will to continue. We grew tired of space and wanted to settle on a planet. We were given five ships, which we crammed full of people and we set off for a habitable planet. After five years, we found two worlds in a solar system capable of supporting life. Two ships landed on our world, Tenera. The others landed on a world they named New Kobol. Eventually, two different governments arose on our world. We were the dictatorship, and they were the democracy," the overseer told Admiral Marks.

"Is there a representative from New Kobol that we could talk to as well?" asked the admiral, not liking the fact that the Eastern Alliance was a dictatorship.

"I'm afraid not. Around one hundred fifty years ago, our government launched a surprise strike against the Western Nationalists. It was a nuclear strike, and it completely sterilized the face of New Kobol."

"Oh my Gods," Admiral Marks uttered.

"Roughly six months later, there were massive uprisings and our government was overthrown. We are now a democracy, but we have retained our name," finished Overseer Hayes.

"Where is Tenera?" questioned Admiral Marks. "We might want to stop there for a few days and give our crew shore leave."

"I don't know," replied the overseer. "I would have to check with my superiors. I have no idea how they'll even react to the finding of people from our twelve brothers and sisters."

"Are you leaving?" Marks asked.

"I must inform my superiors, but I will give you the location of Tenera," he responded. "And tell Mr. Saddus to return to the ship in his good time. There is no need to rush. If things work out, I will probably assign him as the Eastern Alliance's liason officer over here."

"That would work," Marks said.

"Goodbye, Admiral. I hope to see you again soon," stated Overseer Hayes.

A few minutes later, he was on a shuttle back to the Helios.

Deathstalker and Saddus were walking through a hallway in the _Poseidon_.

"This is one of the CO2 scrubbers. We have fifteen on board, but only ten are really necessary." Deathstalker pointed out.

"Is that what you use to filter out the carbon dioxide from your air?" Saddus was intrigued. "We use something similar, except it is built in to our bulkheads, not sticking out like yours."

"Everything is similar, but not the same. Isn't there one thing that is the same on both ships?" asked Deathstalker.

"Not really," Saddus replied. "But there is a lot you still have not shown me."

"True, true," Deathtstalker agreed.

"Who's that? I though you said this part of the ship was deserted," the lieutenant commander asked.

"It usually is," she responded. "The only people who come down here are maintenance techs, and he doesn't have their uniform on."

"Wait, that uniform is an Eastern Alliance uniform. No one is supposed to be here besides me. Overseer Hayes told me that everyone was accounted for when he contacted me shortly before he left," he whispered.

"Who could it be then?" wondered Deathstalker.

"Verga," Saddus realized. "He's here. We have to warn your Admiral. Quickly!"

The man turned around. In his hand was a pistol. Seeing the two pilots, he started moving towards them. Deathstalker tried to escape, but the man shot her three times. She was bleeding profusely from two wounds in her back and one in her shoulder.

"Verga," Saddus hissed as he came closer to the man.

"The one and only," he replied.

Saddus launched himself at Verga. He managed to knock the pistol out of his hand. It went skidding across the floor. Verga pushed him away. Verga uppercut into Saddus' face. He went reeling backward. Verga punched him in the stomach several times, and added another blow to the head. Saddus lapsed into unconsciousness.

Verga went and picked up the gun. He thought about shooting him, but he decided against it_. I'll let the Colonials get their hands on you_, he thought.

The former communications officer continued through the ship for close to an hour. He managed to avoid most personnel until he heard a klaxon sound a voice call, "Action Stations, Action Stations, Set Condition One throughout the ship! This is no drill. I repeat Action Stations!"

**Chapter Four**

**Fifty Minutes Earlier**

**Battlestar Poseidon**

**Veridian System**

Lieutenant Commander Julius Saddus awoke. His head felt like someone hit it with a bat several times. He turned and saw Deathstalker. She was lying in a pool of blood, and more was coming out each second.

He knew he had to get help for her quickly or she would die. Grunting, he pushed himself up. He leaned on a wall as he tried to regain his balance.

A maintenance technician was coming close. He saw the bloody body and quickly ran away.

He called CIC from one of the phones lining the hallway. "This is Mr. Styles. I'm a maintenance technician. I am on level thirteen, section ten, corridor two. There is a medical emergency here: a bloody body is on the ground."

Admiral Marks, Dr. Salik, four marines, and several medics rushed down to the wounded Deathstalker. They saw Saddus woozily leaning against the bulkhead.

"Marines!" Admiral Marks ordered. "Take Mr. Saddus to the brig. He is charged with attempted murder of one of my officers."

"What? No! It wasn't me!" Saddus yelled. "It's Verga! He's on the ship! And he'll try to kill you next, Admiral!"

The marines reached and grabbed Saddus. They led him away. Dr. Salik and his team of medics quickly brought Deathstalker onto a stretcher and led her away.

Admiral Marks left Med Bay and headed up to the CIC. Deathstalker was stable, for now. He was going to demand some answers out of Overseer Hayes. The marines had searched the section for the Verga Saddus had warned him about, but there was no one in the area. Saddus had to have shot Deathstalker, but he seemed like a good person. The admiral doubted he would do such a thing without explicit orders to do so, and he had to know who ordered it and why. Saddus looked up to the Overseer. He was the most likely choice for ordering the attack.

"Admiral on deck!" Commander Hende announced as he walked over to the center of the CIC.

"Patch me through to the _Helios_," Marks said as he picked up the phone on the table in the CIC.

"You're on Admiral," the communications officer reported.

"This is Admiral Marks. One of my officers was apparently shot and severely wounded by your Lieutenant Commander Saddus. She is now stable, but he has been apprehended. Please respond."

"Admiral, I had no idea he would do such a thing. If you will have him sent over here, I will punish him as one of my officers," Overseer Hayes voice responded over the wireless.

"No, I'm sure you would respond with a promotion. I don't think he would do anything like that without your order, Overseer. So, I have a question for you. Why did you order it?" asked Admiral Marks with anger in his voice. Marks was astounded. One of his officers was brutally attacked and the one person who could have ordered it was denying ordering the assault!

"I assure you, Admiral, I did not sanction any assault," replied Hayes.

"Then why is one of my pilots in Med Bay being treated for three gunshot wounds. Your pilot even said I would be next," Marks' voice grew in intensity.

"He said what?" Overseer Hayes gasped. "Admiral, I have not ordered anything–"

"Spare me your games, Overseer," Marks said. "I know what you are planning. Kill me, and then take over the ship. This is the most advanced ship ever created by the Twelve Colonies, so it's at least forty years ahead of you. You could use this ship to conquer or destroy the remainder of humanity like you did to New Kobol. This I will not allow."

He put the phone down. "Tell gun crews to stand by to open fire."

"This will spiral out of control fast," Commander Hende warned.

"Hayes has left us no other choice," Marks replied. "Set Condition One throughout the ship."

A voice shouted over the intercom. "Action Stations, Action Stations, Set Condition One throughout the ship! This is no drill. I repeat Action Stations!"

"We have acquired a targeting solution," the gunnery officer reported.

"Open fire," Marks ordered.

**Command Basestar**

**Somewhere in Cylon Space**

Justin Cavil turned towards the rest of the Cylon models assembled in the control room of the baseship.

"A light basestar was thrown off course by a minor FTL miscalculation. They detected Colonial signatures," he said as the rest of the models put there hands in the data stream.

"How is that possible?" a Six asked. "These readings are from over three hundred light years from the Colonies!"

"Could it be those ghost ships we have been trying to find?" a Three also asked.

"No, look closer. There is also a Cylon signature, but with Colonial ID codes," responded Justin.

"A Cylon Hades class Basestar mark three!" the Six exclaimed. "But only five were constructed, and all were sent to find…"she trailed off.

"The _Argo_," a Five stated. "So she survived."

"After the end of the war, we sent a basestar to look for her and the ships sent after her. All we found was wreckage. The remains of the _Argo_, one basestar, a few gunstars, and some of its civilian ships were not present, but we detected very large nuclear weapons had been used. We believed the rest of the ships were vaporized by those nukes," another One stated.

"How large were those nukes?" the Five asked. "How could anything vaporize a battlestar?"

"Most of the nukes were in the two hundred fifty megaton range, but we believe at least on in the five hundred megaton range was used," the One replied.

"A five hundred megaton nuke could destroy a moon, or a planet! A battlestar would have been no problem," the Five agreed.

"The Colonials obviously captured the basestar during that engagement," Justin said. "I will infiltrate this new world so we can wipe it out like the rest of the Colonies. And we can finally take care of that forty year old problem, the _Argo_. The Plan will be achieved!"

_**I would like to thank Just-A-Crazy-Man for the idea of the battlestar Argo. **_

_**Sorry for the long wait before I updated. I will try to update again sooner, but I have had an increasing amount of stuff to do, so I might not post for another three-four weeks.**_


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